Josephine Baker At the age of 13, she headed to New York City from St. Louis To be part of a Chorus Vaudeville show. Later secured a role in the chorus line of a touring production of Broadway revue in 1921. To stand out from the other dancers, she introduces a bit of comedy into her routine. Aged 19, she sailed to Paris in 1925, and opened on 2 October in La Revue Nègre at Theatre des She became an instant success for her erotic dancing, and appearing nude onstage. The costume that is most famous is a short skirt covered with artificial bananas and large beaded necklace, transforming her into an iconic image that symbolizes Jazz Age and Roaring Twenties. Becoming famous first in France in the twenties and one of the first black women from the USA to appear in the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics, made in Paris.
1939: France declared war on Germany. She was recruited by the French military intelligence agency for French counterintelligence. Being a socialite, she had contact with German embassies and other ministries through nightclubs and charm. She attended parties and gathered information at the embassy without suspicion. Awarded the Resistance Medal by General Charles de Gaull.
In 1951, Baker was invited back to the United States for a nightclub engagement in Miami to sell out a run at the club with a national tour. Only after winning the case of desegregation over the club’s audience. 1968 offered unofficial leadership in the movement by Coretta Scott King in the United States after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. Declined for concern of her children.
